Cowboys and Indians
by Katrinka and Nori
Summary: OK this whole "Cowboys and Indians" thing was just sitting here and we just had to do it. we just can't believe that no one had done it before. the pairing is JackxOC. Not slash. DONE!
1. Chapter 1

Okay, this story took a lot of research so please review it was written me and my sister, Katrinka the Great (K.t.G), wrote it together so in your reviews say "HIII" to her m'kay?

This is about Jack and my OC, Tessa a half Indian (Native American) half Scottish girl. Enjoy! !DISCLAIMER!: This is not meant to offend any one. This is not an English lesson, don't flame me for bad grammar. I don't own Newsies although I do have Spot, Racetrack, Blink and Mush all locked up in my closet, they will not be released unless I get reviews, and those are my demands.

P.S. I don't plan on doing the accents so you will just have to use your imaginations *gasps from the crowed* yeah, that's right if I have to work for this story so do you!

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COWBOYS and INDIANS

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Prologue

In the year 1867 a Scottish lad by the name of Fletcher O'Keefe, his father, mother and brother moved from Scotland to Pennsylvania. They stayed there for years until disaster struck. Fletcher's parents died of influenza when he was seventeen years old. By the time that this happened Fletcher's brother, Jacob O'Keefe, had moved to New York and opened a restaurant there with his wife and daughter. Without anything left in Pennsylvania, Fletcher left to go the adventure that all young men dream of. After Fletcher traveled through many of the western states he stopped in Oklahoma and fell in love with a Seminole Indian named Abequa, who married him.

After they wed they were shunned by Abequa's tribe so they left. They traveled northeast, stopping in Illinois because Abequa was pregnant. They had a daughter in the year 1883, Fletcher named her Tessa after his mother. When Tessa was twelve they began to move again hiking up towards Ohio. When they made it to Ohio they settled down for a few years until Tessa's mother and father became sick with chloral. Abequa and Fletcher O'Keefe both died on July 2 1896, within hours of each other. Before Fletcher died he told his daughter to go find his cousin to take care of her. That night she packed all she could carry, sold shat she could not and left. She fallowed a river to Pennsylvania and looked there first, remembering her father's stories of his childhood. She looked for two years for anything of her uncle she finally found out that he was some were in New York. As soon as she found this out she packed all she could and left.

For almost a year she traveled through the rest of Pennsylvania and most of New York until she found out that her uncle's restaurant was in a city called Manhattan.

That is why a young lady with straight black hair and dark green suspicious eyes was standing in the middle of a street looking at the people of New York as if they were from another planet. She had a slight built and was wearing a pair of black pants and a light blue linen shirt and a serious look on her face. Which is understandable because this trip to New York decided her entire future? Tessa looked right then left and taking a deep breath, she stepped in to a restaurant, hopefully her uncle's.

"Excuse me," she spoke, quietly yet confidently. "I'm looking for a man named Jacob O'Keefe, do you know were I could find him?"

The man looked at her surprised, obviously some what shocked to see an Indian in the restaurant.

"Yes, I do," he answered. "That happens to be me but most people call me Tibby."

Taking a deep breath Tessa looked into (supposed) uncle's eyes and then handed him the letter that her father gave to her before died. Tibby looked from Tessa to the letter then took the letter.

Reading it his eyes began to water.

"That fooled got himself killed, eh?" He said, wiping a tear from his eye. "And I guess that, that means that you're Tessa."

"He wasn't killed, he died which you can hardly blame him for." She pointed out. "And yes, I am Tessa which makes you my Uncle Jacob."

"I guess that you and me are gonna have to talk about this, huh?"

"No, we don't, if you want to talk you can talk but I don't have to talk."

"You're a strong one, aren't cha?" Tibby/Jacob said with a smile.

"Years living by yourself will do that to you."

"Yeah," he said, with a small smile. "I guess it would. Well as long as you're gonna live with me you're gonna need to help out."

"Whoa," she said holding up her hands in a defensive way. "I came to tell you that your brother was dead, not to come live with you."

"You didn't read the note did you?" He said.

"It was addressed to you." She said in a serious voice. "If it was meant for me he would have addressed it like wise."

"Well," he said pulling out a paper and pointing out a paragraph in the middle of it. "It says here that I'm your legal guardian, so you have to stay."

Tessa thought about the situation for a moment.

"I'll stay but in less than two years I will be eighteen and when that day comes I plan on leaving."

"That's fine with me."

"So, what do you have in mind for my 'helping out'?"

"I think you'll make a good waitress if you smile more."

"I can try but I make no promises."

"We'll start you out on the newsies, they don't care about manners any way."

"Sounds good."

"Well they come in every day at lunch time so, if I were you I would go get ready."

"Yes sir."

And with that she walked to the back and found an apron.

"Well Fletch," Tibby said, looking towards the sky. "You always were full of surprises, I just hope this one doesn't kill me."

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Well what do ya think, I know that the first part had almost nothing to do with newsies but I'm getting to it. Okay now that is done we can go to the fun part! Like I said make sure you say hi to my co-writer/sister K.t.G and if you want take a look at my other stories.

Bravo Yankee Echo, Nori and Katrinka the Great.


	2. Chapter 2

Yeah the first chapter! Well I guess the prologue was the first but….yeah oh well. Special thanks to Eruanna Undomiel who was are first reviewer YOU ROCK!!! (man we're desperate….) You've all already read my disclaimer so we won't waste time on that so let's go!

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1 Ch.

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Jack Kelly and his newsies were laughing as they walked down the street towards Tibby's.

"So I says to him 'if you ain't gonna buy a pape, then you can take a hike' and the bum tells me 'well if you didn't lie through your teeth 'bout the headlines maybe I would' then he throws a punch at me and-"

The talking stopped abruptly when the boys entered Tibby's. Standing behind the counter was a girl with dark skin and straight black hair looking on at them with suspicious eyes.

"Can I help you?" She asked with a raised eye brow.

"Yeah toots," Jack answered with a cocky grin. "Me and my boys here need some food and we'd like it fast as possible."

"First of all my name is Tessa Elizabeth Abequa O'Keefe, and if you ever call me 'toots' again I will hit you over the head with this tray so hard that you're gonna be askin' to barrow his eye patch," she said pointing at Blink when she mentioned the eye patch thing. "Seconded, if you'll tell me what you want to eat I'll gladly bring it to you."

The newsies shared a slightly shocked look, and, some what quietly took their seats.

Once the boys had gotten their food they began to speak in hushed tones about all the Indian stories they'd heard, Jack of course knew the most.

"And then," Jack whispered lowly to Tumbler, Boots and Snipeshooter (for dramatic affect). "They'd take you by your hair and they'd-"

"That's not my tribe you know." Tessa interrupted.

"What?" Jack asked with a jump, he hadn't noticed that she was right behind him.

"The Shoshoni were the scalpers; I'm Seminole or half Seminole at least."

"Well what do the Seminoles do?" Snipeshooter asked, curiosity burning in his young eyes.

"They hid in the Everglades of Florida. Until the white men forced them out, now most of them live in Oklahoma."

"Is that were you're from?" Tumbler asked, wanting a good story like his friend.

"Yep."

"Then why are you here?" Snipe asked.

"Because New York is the best place on earth!" Boots answered for her.

"Not quite," Tessa said with a small shake of her head. "I came to live with my uncle after my parents died."

"Who's your uncle?" This question actually came from one of the older boys, the one who was missing an eye.

"Jacob O'Keefe or Tibby as you call him."

"You don't look much old man Tibby," Racetrack said skeptically.

"He's my father's brother." She answered, nonchalantly. "My mother was Indian, so I look more like her."

As soon as Tessa had said this, the clock on the wall chimed letting all the newsies know that it was time to sell the afternoon edition.

"Alright," Jack said loudly. "Story times over. Let's go!"

"All right Cowboy," was the main response around the table and when Tessa heard that she burst out laughing.

"And what is so funny?" Jack asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Well "Cowboy,"" she said, grinning widely. "Were I come from we'd call you Greenhorn." Once she said that she laughed some more then began to clear one of the tables.

"What is that suppose to mean?" He snapped back.

"I'll explain tomorrow, you come everyday, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well go on, sell your papers."

Jack glared as he left the building. 'This girl just wasn't right in the head,' he thought to himself. Jack knew deep down that this girl was totally different (in a truly irritating way) from any other girl he had ever met. She was strong and beautiful at the same time. Wait a Santa Fe second, beautiful? Where the hell did that come from?! Okay so admittedly she was pretty. Hell, if it wasn't for that attitude she'd be perfect. But the attitude was there and that, as they say, was that.

"Ain't worth the stress," he muttered to himself. "'Sides, she's too serious, she'd drive me crazy."

Back in Tibby's

Tessa grinned as this Jack "Cowboy" Kelly left the restaurant. Her parents always told her not to be spiteful but she couldn't help enjoying knocking that boy's ego down a couple pegs. Calling him a Greenhorn was most defiantly going to be the highlight of her day. 'That and the way he smiled,' she thought to herself. 'Wait…did that thought just come out of _my_ head!? NO no no no not happing, not now not EVER!

"He sure is an arrogant one," she told her uncle with an irritated huff.

"He's not so bad, once you get to know him," her uncle defended one of his best, and happiest, patrons. "He was one of the leaders when the newsies went on strike. Took care of his boys real good he did."

"Well I suppose that's one good quality," she muttered in a some what defeated voice. "But I doubt that there are too many more."

"Well I guess you will just have to wait and see, won't you?"

"Yeah," she said, looking out the window as many of the newsies that had been in the restaurant cried out headlines. "I guess I will."

Later that night

Tessa was walking home after a long day of waitressing and all she wanted to do was climb in to the bed her uncle had promised and go to sleep but things hardly ever happen that easily in life. She had been walking for about ten minutes when she heard a voice from that afternoon.

"FLAME CONSUMES WHITE HOUSE, PRESIDENT NOW HOMELESS!!" The young boy cried out.

'Well that could be interesting,' she thought to herself.

"Hey, kid," she called. "I'll buy one."

"Thanks, lady," he said, smiling. "Hey, ain't you old man Tibby's niece or something?"

"Yeah, that's me," she said with a sigh. "Can I have my paper now, I want to go home and go to bed."

"You got it," he said, trading the pape for her penny. "See you tomorrow."

With a wave she continued her walk home. Only once she got there did she actually read the headline "Kitchen fire in the mayor home."

"Well I'll be damned," she said, smiling and shaking her head. "The kid short changed me."

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TA-DA! Well, hate it? Love it? Want some gravy? All who review get free gravy! Remember to say hi to K.t.G in your review, she's helping me a lot!

Bravo Yankee Echo, Nori and Katrinka.


	3. Chapter 3

Heya, 'tis me and my sister again! We returnth to continued this tale. You know the disclaimer so we shall just keep going, on ward!

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The fallowing morning

Tessa had been cooking hotdogs and serving drinks since seven that morning and know what? She. Was. Tired. She had never been stuck in one place long enough to get an actual jab and she didn't like it one bit. She had to deal with obnoxious customers all day and don't even get me started on that guy who whistled at her, gave him the old one, two she did. It was about 11:43 Am so it was almost time for the newsies to burst through the door and she was ready for'em. She sat in silence with her note pad and pensile, waiting, watching and then she got bored. She was about to go talk to the cook, Edna, a grandmotherly lady who had taken a liking to her, when all the boys rushed in as one big group. Oh boy. That's all I'm gonna say. People were shouting orders over each other making it near impossible to figure out what went to whom.

"We're in the weeds!" She yelled in to the kitchen, letting Edna know that we were in for a lot of orders.

"I'm on it, hun (the best part of working in a diner or waffle house is that you get to call every one "Hun")," she called back.

As Tessa finished serving food she saw the kid who had made up the headline the day before.

"Hey, why'd you lie about the headline last night?" She asked, with a slightly irate look on her face. "I was going to by a paper anyways."

"He didn't lie," Jack said, with a kinda cocky smile. "He just improved the truth a little. If a newsie doesn't improve the truth a little now and then, we'd go broke."

Tessa simply shook her head, as if trying to rid herself of this odd logic.

"I'm sorry I said that the white house burned down," the little boy said, with a truly apologetic look on his face that Tessa just couldn't resist.

"It's okay," she said messing up his hair up a little. "You gotta do what you gotta do."

"I -we that is," he said, indicating himself and his friends. "Got some questions for you."

"Um…well okay, go ahead," she said looking slightly confused.

"Can you throw a tomahawk?" Boots started out, looking completely serious.

"What?" She looked at him as if he was speaking French. "Of course I can't! Who on earth told you that?"

"Cowboy," he said pointing at Jack, who was suddenly very interested with his scrambled eggs.

"Mmhm," she said looking at Jack with one of those "you're a dead man" glares.

After she answered that she was bombarded with tons of questions at once.

"ONE AT A TIME!" She yelled really loud, which got the attention of pretty much all the newsies. "If you have a question, raise your hand and I will get to you."

Snipeshooter was the first to put his hand up.

"Yes, Snipes," she said in a some what relived voice.

"Can you shoot a deer from one hundred yards?"

"Not in New York, but maybe in Ohio…" she trailed off thinking about it.

Tumbler raised his hand.

"Shoot," she said.

"Do you bury people in ant hills?"

"No…why would I?"

"Well Cowboy said-" he began.

"Why am I not surprised?" She asked herself, in an irritated way.

Blink now raised his hand.

"What do you want Blink?"

"Can I have some more water?"

"No I've - uh, wait….yeah one sec."

When she came back with a cup for Blink, the questions continued.

"Does your name mean "Cranky Bear"?" Boots asked.

Tessa scowled to herself then reached across the table and smacked Jack upside the head.

"Hey!" He said, rubbing the red spot that was starting to appear . "You don't even know if I told him that one!"

"Well did you?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"….umm..Yeah," he muttered.

"Any more questions?" She asked in a barley holding on to my patient kind of voice.

"Can you make it rain when you dance?"

"Yes actually," she said. "And if the greenhorn tells you any more of these stories I'll cause the sky gods to strike him down with thunder and lightning!"

"Really," Mush asked, sounding convinced.

"Of course not!" She shouted, exasperated. "Now is that all the questions?"

"Actually," Racetrack said, raising two fingers, like he was sort of raising his hand. "You said that your people were in Oklahoma, well how did you get from there to here with out your parents?"

"Well actually," she began, relieved to get a serious question. "I was born in Illinois, and then when I twelve we moved to Ohio, were they died. So I when I left, I only had to travel through Ohio, Pennsylvania and most of New York to get here."

"Well how did you do that?" Blink asked, after all, we're talking about one girl traveling through three states on her own, it's a big deal.

"Well, first I barrowed this guys horse, and the-"

"How did you get it back to him?" Specs asked, ever observant.

"Well….you see I secretly barrowed it."

"YOU STOLE A HORSE?!?" Jack exclaimed, shocked.

"Not steeling secret borrowing."

"Well," said Jack, "round here its called steel in'.

Tessa gave him a defiant look and said "You "improve the truth" I secretly barrow horses."

"Fine," he said glaring at her as the clock chimed. "But we're talking about this later."

"Whatever you say Greenhorn," she replied grinning, she knew that the name bugged him. Mostly because he still didn't know what it meant.

With one last glare Jack and the newsies left.

Tessa noticed two men messing with one of the younger boys after he left the restaurant. She was about to go help when she saw Jack walk straight over to the Two men and knocked ones hat off his head (a REALLY big insult back then), and proceed to punch the other in the mouth.

"Who are they?" She asked her uncle as Jack dodged a punch and laugh.

"Those are the Delancey Brothers," her uncle said, looking up from his note pad. "Now Tessa I think we can close up shop, I don't think anyone is going to be coming by this time in the afternoon."

"Okay, uncle," she answered, still looking out the window, watching Jack defend his troops and, when one of the Delancies looked like he was going to jump on Jack, his boys defended him.

Tessa knew that she might not like Jack but she had always admired the bond that a leader and his troops shared.

'Even if the leader is an arrogant jerk like Jack Kelly,' she thought with a smile as she began to clean off the table that the boys had sat at.

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Yeah! Another one bites the dust! Like it? Hate it? Want leftover turkey? ALL WHO REVIEW GET FREE LEFTOVER THANKSGIVING TURKEY! Make sure you say hi to K.t.G in the review she needs encouragement! The cook, Edna, was inspired by our Granny YOU ROCK GRANNY, WOO!

Bravo Yankee Echo, Nori and Katrinka.


	4. Chapter 4

God rest ye merry Gentlemen (or ladies, whichever)! We are back to spread joy and cheer through out this site! We're in a Christmassy mood, could ya tell? Sorry for the spelling errors in the last chapter, we were having problems with the computer. Fear not though, for we are having our good friend, Coli Chibi (Katrinka: aka alpha nerd. Nori: Katrinka, don't be rude. Katrinka: What?! He enjoys the title!) proof read for us. With three people working on it, not even we could mess it up! (Katrinka: Are we taking bets on that? Nori: Are you kidding? We'd go broke!) NO MORE COMMENTARY! On with the story!

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Ch. 3

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Tessa stretched and sighed contentedly. Sunday, the day of rest. BANG!!!

"Gosh darn it!" Supposedly. The noises came from the other side of the little apartment above Tibbys restaurant, which her uncle now shared. She reluctantly opened her eyes and saw the coat rack that had formally been standing to the left side of the room now lying on the floor. Her uncle Jacob or Old man Tibby (as he was called) put down the large box he had been struggling to move. Then bent to pick up the fallen coat rack.

Tess beat him to it, "Interesting wake up call" she said still sounding a little groggy.

Jacob smiled "It got you up didn't it sleepy head?"

Tessa growled at him briefly then she smelt breakfast and decided that her energy would be better spent getting ready for the day. First on the agenda? A balanced breakfast of pancakes and bacon drowned in syrup. After breakfast Tibby gave Tessa some errands to run and went back to moving boxes.

Scowling and grumbling Tessa wandered out in to the dirty streets of Manhattan.

Tessa didn't like the city, it was crowded and loud and, for the most part, smelly. It wasn't anything like the forests and mountain that she had enjoyed as a child. In the forests you were as free as a bird; all the concrete reminded her of a cage.

Through out the morning Tessa walked from store to store buying her uncle's supplies. Some of the cashiers gave her odd looks but as long as she paid cash they ignored the obvious wildness of her appearance. At about noon Tessa hadn't finished even half of the errands and she was getting frustrated. This wasn't her style; if she wanted food, she would kill something, end of story. Now she had to haggle with big fat guys who were missing teeth and didn't understand the meaning of the words "do not touch me", until after a few punches.

Tessa was about to turn around and go back to Tibby's when she heard a young boy shouting: "Go away, and leave me alone!"

Tessa could put up with a lot of things but bullies were not one of them. Turning and running quickly to where she had heard the shout she came to an alley, where a man with a black bowlers hat stood fighting to get a little boys earnings. Tessa didn't stop to think, grabbing the closest weapon, a loose piece of board, and jumped at the man, screaming a high unnatural battle cry. She need not have bothered with the weapon; as soon as he heard the noise the bowler hat man dropped the boy and ran.

Tessa dropped her board and knelt down by the child.

"Are you alright?" She asked, calmly.

"Yeah," he said, shaking his head a little. "What the heck kind of noise was that?"

Tessa was already checking him for broken bones. Once satisfied that he was in one piece she stopped and studied the child for a moment, after a minute she recognized him as one of the young boys who came in with Greenhorn.

"Well," she said after a while. "It's an Indian war cry, intended to scare the spit out of your attacker."

"You think you could teach me that?" He asked, excitedly.

"Yeah…um, maybe later. How did you get yourself in to that kind of trouble?" She said, with a slight smile.

"Oh, that was Oscar Delancey, he just wanted my pape money," he said with a shrug it was clear that this happened a lot.

"Well, where I come from people could get shot for a thing like that," she said with distain.

"Well I'd like to go to where you're from but I'm here and here it's a part of life."

Tessa blinked and then said: "Where do you belong, I'll walk you home so you don't get jumped again."

"Really?" He said, in an excited way.

"If you don't mind finishing up my errands with me."

He looked at the ground thoughtfully then, with a face as serious as Sunday said: "I'll muddle through."

Tessa chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair.

"Your name is Tumbler, right?" She said as he fixed his hat.

"Yup." (A/N: Gracefully put, no?)

"Well, are you ready to muddle?" She said, smiling.

"Yes ma'am," he said, smiling with admiration.

With Tumblers help Tessa managed to finish her errands by four in the afternoon. As they walked towards the lodging house Tumbler began to skip around her the way Jack (cough Greenhorn cough) described as Indian-ish and tried to imitate Tessa's shrill shrieks. She shook her head as he danced around and made the noise correctly. Then the gray sky that had been holding all day broke open and started to rain cats and dogs.

"I thought you were only kidding," Tumbler shouted over the rain.

Without answering Tessa grabbed his arm and ran under the closest covering that she could find, an awning. In between dragging Tumbler and wiping the rain out of her eyes she bumped into a tall and of course wet, someone. She was about to apologize when she noticed that it was Jack Kelly, of all people.

"Watch where you're going, Greenhorn," she ground out. (A/N: she's wet, cold and hungry she's allowed to be snappy)

"A pleasant afternoon to you too, Ms. O'Keefe," he grumbled back. (A/N: He's cold and hungry too) "Fine weather we're havin', huh?"

"Jack!" Tumbler squealed, jumping out from behind Tessa, still holding her shopping bags.

"What are you doin' with my newsie?" Jack asked, starting to sound slightly miffed.

Tessa was about to start explaining when Tumbler jumped in with the condensed version of the days events.

(A/N: as Tumbler explains he jumps back and forth, motioning with his hands)

"Well you see," he stated out. "I finished selling my papes early so I was walking home, then Oscar jumped me and I started to yell 'Help me!' and then Tessa comes runnin' in sceamin' like this," Tumble made an example that sounded like a strangled cat, while Jack covered his ears and Tessa pinched the bridge of her nose. "Then Oscar ran away and Tessa and me go shoppin', I was a gentleman and carried the bags, see?" He said holding up the bags, proudly. "Then we started to walk to the lodging house, dancing' like Indians and," he took a deep breath then said in a lower voice: "You better be careful Jack, I don't think she was joking when she said she would strike you with lightning."

Jack looked from Tessa to Tumbler a couple of times before he grabbed Tessa's shoulders and asked her seriously: "What did you do to my newsie?"

"Nothing besides save him from this Delancey guy and teach him a war cry…er sort of." She said this all in monotone and with a straight face but Jack could tell that she was laughing.

"Come on," said Tumbler, as the rain died down. "Let's get to the Lodging House."

Jack sighed and grabbed each of his companions by the arm, leading them home.

When Jack had settled Tumble in the lodging house eating dinner with the others, he came up behind Tessa, who had been walking out of the building. Before she knew that he was there, he had taken a few of the bags off her hands.

"This isn't necessary," she said in a defiant voice.

"It's almost dark, it's wet, you're a girl who doesn't know her way around and you're in the middle of Manhattan. The only way it could be worse is if you were in Brooklyn, trust me it's necessary."

She glared at him suspiciously for a moment.

"Besides that, you've taken my place as Tumblers favorite person and if something happens to you he'll never forgive me."

Tessa rolled her eyes and gave in saying: "I'd like to point out that neither one of us is his favorite person, he still likes Skittery best. I simply took your place as his second favorite person."

Jack muttered something under his breath as Tessa smirked at him.

They had after a short time made it to Tibby's. Tessa let herself and Jack in, calling up the steps to her uncle as Jack put the bags on the counter. After Tibby gave them each something to eat, Jack started to head out.

What possessed her to do what she did Tessa would never know but for some reason she called out to him as he walked down the street: "Get home safe, Greenhorn."

Jack smiled back and called: "I will, Tessie."

When Tessa got to her room it came over her like a thunder clap.

"He called me Tessie," she said out loud to herself. All of the sudden she felt ridiculously happy for no real reason. She sighed and pulled the covers her head.

"Tomorrow is going to be a long day," she murmured, before dropping off to sleep.

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We have nothing smart to say to get you to review be cause it is THREE IN THE FLIPPIN' MORNING!!!!! You see what we do for you people?


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry it took so long to post this chapter, holidays and all. We would like to take this time to thank all of our great reviewers and as for all of you who do not review we have this to say: JERKS!! We don't like you! : P We kid, we kid! But seriously, review. Now that we've run out of funny witticisms to say we move to the story.

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Ch. 4

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Jack Kelly looked out at the still gray rainy streets of Manhattan. The rain had continued through the night and had not let up yet.

"Alright, guys." Jack said, with a sigh. "No one is gonna be out buyin' today, we might as well stay dry."

"Not me Cowboy," Racetrack said. "I've got a sure thing down at the tracks; I've got a good feelin' 'bout this one."

"Alright, Race. Just don't get yourself killed."

"Sounds like a plan, Jack." He said back, grinning.

After Race left Jack and the others just wandered around the Lodging House, bored out of their minds.

"Hey, Jack," Tumbler said, at around noon. "Ya think we could go see Tessa?"

"I don't know, Tumbler." He said, nervously, still slightly embarrass that he had called Tessa "Tessie".

"Pleeeeease?" He wined, pulling the whole puppy eyed bit.

"Why don't you ask Skittery?" Jack asked desperately.

"He's with Blues (Skittery's girl in our world)."

"Arrrg (I thought Blink was the pirate ;))," Jack groaned. "Fine, we'll go at lunch time, might as well meal out of it."

"Yay, we're goin' to see Tessa!" Tumbler called to Boots and Snipeshooter who cheered in response.

Jack groaned once more and climbed into his bunk shaking his head.

"Why do you guys like her so much, anyways?" He asked, looking down from his bed.

"She's funny and she's tough," Snipeshooter started off what would be a long list of things to like about Tessa.

"She knows as many funny stories as you do," Boots added. "And most of them are true."

"She can do this amazing screamy thing," Tumbler said in an excided voice (he still hadn't gotten over that).

"And she can really stick it to ya, "Cowboy"" Blink said, putting emphasis on the nickname (He was still upset that Jack stole his Pirate shtick).

"Alright already," he said, holding up his hands in mock defense. "I get it, every one loves Tessa, is that it?"

"Yeah, pretty much," was the main response in the room.

"Treacherous bums," he muttered, in jest (mostly) then began to get ready to go to Tibby's.

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While the boys got ready to leave Tessa was dealing with the Monday rush (that was sarcasm). The restaurant was almost completely empty, save for p few diners who were no doubt going to sit at their tables for about an hour, buy nothing but water or coffee and then leave her a one forth of a cent tip. Another reason to hate Mondays.

Tessa was glaring down at two pennies sitting on one of the tables when she heard yelling and other such commotion out in the streets. This could mean two things: 1). the sky had opened up and started to rain bear traps, 2). the newsies were going to pay her a visit. If you guessed number 2 then you are correct, tell us in your review so we can send you your prize! (Yeah, we're saying that to get more reviews)

Tumbler, Boots and Snipeshooter were the first to run through the door, yelling their hellos.

"Tessa, Tessa Tessa!" They all cried out in one voice.

"Hey, guys," she said grinning, taking the small boys into her arms for a hug. "How are you doin'?"

"We're great! Jack took us to see you!!"

"So I see," she said looking up at Jack. Since she was fairly certain that he had been teasing her with the whole "Tessie" thing, she had decided to ignore all and any touchy feely thoughts and bait the bear as usual. "Greenhorn." she grunted.

"Tessa," he said back.

"What do you guys want to eat?" Tessa asked the boys as the sat at their table.

Once Tessa got her order she walked into the kitchen to tell Edna their orders. When she came out and put the food on the table and talked to the three younger boys at her table.

As the last of the diners (Jack and Co. had left a little bit ago) left two men walked in together. They wore black bowler hats and had a stink to them, like a backed up sewer. The infamous Delancey Brothers (well, duh…). Tessa took one look at the two smug faces before addressing them in the most serious voice.

"We don't serve your kind hear (look at note one at the bottom of this chapter)."

Oscar was struck speechless that this girl would say that. Morris however, had no such trouble.

"'Ey, you better be careful what you say to men in this city, Dollface," he said with a sick grin. "Pretty little girls can get hurt."

"You are not welcome here, leave now." she added more forcefully.

Oscar and Morris exchanged evil looks before walking towards her.

'Oh, not good' Tessa thought to herself, she knew the Delancey's type. Oscar ran the first time was that he was out numbered (counting Tumbler) and didn't know his attacker. This fight was on their terms and Tessa could tell that it was not going to turn out well for her.

"You two scumbags want to fight?"

No, it couldn't be. Yet it was, lo and behold the mighty Jack Kelly, this is going to be good!

"This doesn't concern you Cowboy," Oscar sneered, grabbing hold of Tessa's wrist pulling her so that she was behind him and his brother. "Now why don't you go sell your papes and we'll take good care of the little lady."

Jack's hazel eye lit up in furry and in one swift motion, he brought his fist straight across Oscar's ugly mug. In less than a minute Jack had both brothers on the ground out side of Tibby's.

"You two ever come here again you're goin' to answer to me and my boys," he yelled, as they ran down an alley. "You make sure everybody knows: this girl is a friend to the Manhattan newsies and we'll soak anyone who messes with her!"

He then turned towards Tessa. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said, running a hand through her long dark hair. "Thanks, why did you come back?"

"I left my bandana in at our table," he explained.

"I'll get it for you."

The small talk continued until Tibby returned from walking Edna home. Once Jack explained what had happened the old man offered Jack his thanks and asked if he wanted to stay for dinner. Jack declined saying that he had to get back to his boys. Tessa walked him to the back door like the night before (DUDE that just rhymed!).

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said, still trying to think of a way she could express her gratitude verbally. "Get home safe," she couldn't believe that she said it to him again, that makes to nights in a row!

He smiled at her and for the first time it wasn't a smug or "your face!" (Excuse the modern terminology) type of smile, just a genuine, sweet smile.

"I'll be fine, see you tomorrow, Tess."

* * *

Tessa sat at the diner table with her uncle eating when a question struck her.

"Hey, Uncle, why did you name the restaurant "Tibby's"?"

He got a slightly nervous look on his face. "Where did that come from?"

"I was just thinking that it would make more sense to name it Jake's or O'Keeffe's or something like that…" She trailed off thinking about it some more.

"Hhh, I named it after my wife," he said looking down at his plate; a small sad smile began to creep on to his face. "She loved to cook and bake; it had always been her dream to open a restaurant. Shortly after we did she…she… well you see she had been pregnant and well, long story short, she died in child birth, the baby …she never had a chance."

A tear trailed down Jacob's face (Tibby's face).

"I always wondered what she would have been like (the baby); I think she would have been like you. Strong and confident. Yeah, I hope she would've been like you."

Tessa had never been so touched in her entire life and not being much good with words she was at a loss as to what to say. So she decided to do the only thing that felt right.

"Uncle," she said, walking over to him quietly. "I was thinking, I still want to travel but maybe I could…uh…have a sort of home base. You know, here in New York, with you."

Jacob locked eyes with his niece and hugged her tightly knowing that, that had been her way of saying that they were a family now and if that meant giving up some exploring, so be it.

Tessa went to bed that night and knew that for the first time in four years, she had a family. Composed of one uncle and an army of crazy newsies but a family, none the less. With that thought in mind Tessa fell asleep, ready to greet the next day.

* * *

We are tired it is very early in the morning, REVIEW!!!

(1) hee hee star wars quote.


	6. Chapter 6

Lat chappie before Christmas! We are proud to tell you that this chapter will be featuring (Drum roll) Spot Conlon!! This chapter was made possible by Nori's sock puppet, Sockita. (Katrinka): No it was not! (Nori): was so! You're just jealous because you don't have a sock puppet! (K): I'm not jealous, you're delusional, you wacko! (N in squeaky sock puppet voice): Not wacko, Wanko, WOOHOO! (K): see what I have to deal with here? Please review and make me feel better!

A/N: we're making a small time jump for the sake of the story, not a big one just a little under a month. Also there is a mention of drunkenness, a little warning for the kiddies.

* * *

Tessa crossed out another day off the calendar, August 2nd. Two months with out moving any where and she was going a little stir crazy. The restaurant had closed early that evening on account that Uncle Jacob had been feeling a little under the weather. As she put out the milk bottles she heard the unmistakable sound of the newsies coming down the street. She searched the crowed for Tumbler, Snipeshooter and Boots but wasn't able to find them.

"Greenhorn!" She called over to Jack, who stopped in front of her with a happy face that screamed one word: PARTY! "What did you do with my small followers, Greenhorn?"

"They're in bed, probably asleep already," He answered happily.

This was weird; usually he would get irritated when Tessa called him Greenhorn. Something was definitely up.

"And where are the rest of you going?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We're celebrating the victory of our strike!" Blink threw in, jubilantly. "You should come," he added.

Tessa would have normally said flat out no but she was getting bored of doing nothing but cooking and waiting tables. 'This could be fun' she thought to herself.

"Would I need to change?" She asked.

As soon as Tessa uttered those words Jack looked as if he had, had an epiphany.

"No, no, no, no, no." He said quickly (a little too quickly…). "You look just fine; it's just a small gathering of us humble newsies."

Tessa eyed Jack suspiciously and said: "I've got a bad feeling about this" but went along with them any ways.

After walking for about four minutes Jack grabbed Racetrack's shoulder.

"Hey," he said quietly to his best friend with a maniacal grin. "Why don't you run ahead and tell Medda that we're going to have a friend with us that is going that is going to need to borrow a dress."

Racetrack smirked and began to run ahead. This was the stuff he lived for, no wait. Betting was what he lived for but Jack's shenanigans were a close second. 'Besides,' he thought to himself. 'The sooner I get there the sooner I can start taking bets on how long it will take Tessa to kill Jack, twenty minutes, maybe thirty, who know?'

* * *

At party

Tessa looked at the gathering crowd of "Humble newsies" and then looked at the girls which surrounded them. Feeling out of place she did the only respectable thing, she glared at Jack unmercifully, who proceeded to take her to a back room. A lady with bright red hair and a BRIGHT pink dress was waiting for them.

"She's all your's Medda!" Jack said, shoving Tessa in to the room and shutting the door quickly.

"I'm all what?!?" Tessa said, stumbling in to the room.

"Hello my dear!" She said, flamboyantly (pouring on the sweetish accent and charm). "You must be the one Racetrack told me about, Tessa!"

"Race told you what exactly?" She asked, a feeling of foreboding coming over her.

"That you would need to borrow a dress, my dear."

"Then he must die also," Tessa said grimly.

"Also? Is there someone else?"

"Yeah, I positive that this is some how Jack's doing. So they both must die, I just have to decide how to kill them and where I'll hide the bodies."

"Then I will decide what you will wear while you do murder them," Medda said, playing along. "Now Race already gave me estimate on your size, which is quite accurate I must say."

"Whoa," Tessa said looking at the sizes that Race had written down. "That's kinda creepy."

"He also said you would like something simpler then what I would usually wear."

"His death will be a little less painful, then."

"How do you plan to get rid of the bodies?" Medda asked playfully as she pulled out a light purple dress.

"I work in a restaurant I'll just grind them up into hot dogs (Les, don't eat it!)," she said back with a shrug.

Medda smiled shaking her head at Tessa as she pulled a brush through the girl's long black hair.

* * *

Tessa had stayed in the back room as long as possible until Medda said she either went out and joined the party or went on stage with her. 1.5 seconds later Tessa stalked through the crowd, searching for one very unfortunate Greenhorn.

"GREENHORN!!" She called through the room. Getting no responds she yelled: "KELLY!"

"What did the Cowboy do to make you so unhappy, Dollface?" Asked a slurred voice behind her.

"There's a list as long as your arm," she answered sarcastically, far too irate to notice the HUGE guy behind her making a move.

"Well," he said the drunkenness in his voice clear. "Since the company isn't to your liking, why don't you and I go on a nice long walk?"

Tessa now realized that she was in hot water responded normally forgetting that she was wearing a dress. "Better idea, why don't you go on a nice long walk off a short pier?"

The tall boy glared down at her, anger clear in his eyes.

"If you're not careful that mouth of your's is going to get you hurt in this city."

"Yeah," Tessa said, just now remembering that she was in a dress. "That's what they tell me. Last time someone saved me I'm hoping it happens again."

"Roller!" Said a voice that made the boy (Roller) take a step back from Tessa.

"There is a God," Tessa said smiling upwards as a boy with blue eyes and dirty blond hair came towards them. He was at least a head shorter then Roller but seemed a lot more battle worthy, that is to say sober. He also was carrying a cane as a weapon.

"Yeah and his name is Spot Conlon," he said to Tessa with an arrogant voice then turned to Roller. "I thought I told you not rough up any more girls, you're drunk so you're getting' one last chance. So unless you want to go beg for your spot back in Queens, leave her and all the others alone."

Faster then you can say alleluia Roller was gone.

"Allow me to introduce myself, Spot Conlon, King of Brooklyn."

Tessa smirked. "I thought you said you were God."

"You must be Tessa," he said looking her over. "Jacky boy wasn't kiddin' about you."

Spot's saying that had just reminded Tessa of her new mission in life.

"Jack? Where is he, where is that miserable Greenhorn? I need to kill him!"

"I think he went off in that direction," Spot said pointing towards a poker table.

After Tessa left Spot knocked on the table to his right. "She's gone."

"Thank God," Jack gasped popping up from underneath the table.

"You're welcome," Spot said smirking.

"See what I mean when I said she's crazy? She wants to kill me! Over a dress that she looks really good in *pause* forget that last part. I mean it's not like I did anything too terrible. I mean it was understandable when I put that spider on her serving tray and freaked out her customers. Or when I had Blink switch out her cup of water with a cup of vinegar."

Jack waited for Spot, who had a very thoughtful look on his face, to comment.

"Do you think I should add that to my title?" He asked. "Spot Conlon, King of Brooklyn/ God?"

"Did you listen to a word I just said?!?"

"Fine, I'll be serious. Get it over with and ask her out to dinner."

"That's it?"

"Yep."

"That's your serious suggestion, me ask her out to dinner?"

"Hey I'm God I know what I'm talking about."

"Why would I want to date a girl who wants to kill me?"

"First of all, she only temporarily wants to kill you and I think you will be able to explain to her that, that is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Secondly she's tough and you need someone tough."

"Why?"

"'Cause, someone is going to have to save you and it ain't gonna be me!" Spot said as he walked away chuckling.

"Save me from wha- Oh shi-! (heehee, you thought we were gonna curse)" Jack was cut off by ten squealing girls that all "just had to dance with him".

* * *

Tessa who had come from the poker tables, watched the pandemonium for a few minute before deciding that if those girls killed him she wouldn't get to so she had no choice, she had to save the Greenhorn.

"Excuse me," she said politely, shoving girls out of her way not so politely.

"Wait your turn Red Skin!" One of the girls said snootily, and then shoved Tessa out of the circle of girls.

"That's it!" Tessa said, she was officially out of patients for the day. Tessa grabbed the girl who called her Red Skin and threw her across the room, causing her to knock over a few guys.

"Come on," she said, dragging Jack by the wrist. Looking around the room she saw that all of the exits were blocked by rather upset looking girls.

"What are we doing?" He asked as Tessa led him to the dance floor.

"We're going to wait them out." She said in a stubborn voice. "They can't keep all the exits covered for too long. After this dance we'll make a brake for it."

"So, you're dancing with me to save me?" He asked, confused.

"No," she said in a voice usually reserved for three year olds. "I'm dancing with you to save you so that I can kill you."

Jack looked at her to see if she was being serious. She was.

"You're crazy, you know that?"

"Yeah," she replied, smiling. "That's what they tell me."

Jack put his arm around her waist and she put her hand on his shoulder and they proceeded to dance. Contrary to the serious and slightly scary persona that she put up, Tessa enjoyed dancing. It reminded her of the way her father picked her up and swung her around when she was little.

As they danced Tessa found her need to kill Jack lessen and they talked about a lot of things. Jack told her about the strike and Tessa told him stories about the things Snipeshooter, Boots and Tumbler did with her all this stuff about playing pirates in the kitchen and such.

It turned out that Tessa had been right; after the song ended one of the doors was open.

"Smile and sway in that direction," she hissed to Jack.

When they got to the door they made a mad dash towards Tibby's. Once they got there Tessa realized that she was still in Medda's dress. She decided to go trade the clothes back tomorrow.

"You know," she said, before she went in side. "Your friend Spot is actually more arrogant then you."

"Spot is more arrogant then anyone, even Pulitzer and that's sayin' something', trust me."

"Goodnight, Jack," she said smiling.

"'Night Tessa and by the way," he said as he walked away. "You're a good dancer."

* * *

That night once Jack made sure that all of his boys made it home from Medda's and were in there bunks he climbed into his own. Jack knew that tomorrow would be difficult, seeing as he would have to pretend that he hadn't seen Tessa blush but he had to admit, he was glad she did.

"Shoot," he said to himself. "Spot was right. Again!"

* * *

!!!!!!! (Nori): I like exclamation points!" (Katrinka): "Knock it off, or I'll clean your side of the room!" (N): NOOO! The soap, the SOOOOOAAAP! (K): Pay no attention to the screaming in the back round. Review and she shall be released unharmed. Bravo Yankee Echo, Katrinka and Nori (N): and Sockita!


	7. Chapter 7

Happy new year! How was your holiday? Okay, we've had 252 Hits and 103 visitors and 12 reviews not bad but we'd like more, yeah we're selfish like that ; ) (Nori): "Due to a strange turn of events, involving a jar of pickle juice, three demented banjo players and an inflatable turkey, I am free and Katrinka is being held captive. You know the drill, review and nobody gets hurt."

(A/N): in case you haven't noticed, we are ignoring David, Les, Sarah and the dancing waiter from Tibby's, partially because they wouldn't help the story but mostly because we're just lazy ;)

* * *

Jack walked through the streets of Manhattan with a pained look on his face. He tried to keep himself busy, selling papes, hanging out with his friends but nothing helped. When he sold he always found that he ended up near Tibby's, when he was with his friends they would talk about her. He knew that he liked her, really really, liked her. But if he ever told her that or any one else for that matter, he'd never live it down. He figured that if he tried hard enough he'd get over it but after four days it hadn't gone away. He hadn't gone to Tibby's in those four days, claiming that he was a little short on cash. The others had told him that old man Tibby had been in a bad way recently so he decided that to day he would face whatever he was afraid of and go see how they were doin'.

The bell above the door dinged to signal Jack's entrance. Tessa looked at him.

"How's it goin' Greenhorn?" She asked with a brief smile.

"Not too bad, I heard that your Uncle was sick."

A flash of fear shot through Tessa's eyes.

"He's a little under the weather but he'll be alright," she said, trying to sound confident and failing miserably. "You hungry?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah…yeah that'd be good." He said, slightly thrown by her strange moods.

After Jack finished eating his roast beef sandwich (They're like fifteen cents!) Tumbler, Pie Eater and Skittery walked in. Skittery and Pie Eater were joking around but Tumbler wasn't looking so good. Tessa, of course noticed right away.

"You okay, kiddo?" She asked as she cleared away Jack's plate.

"I'm fine," he said, not looking that way at all. "Just a little tiered."

"Come here," she instructed firmly.

"What's goin' on?" Jack asked, curious as to why Tessa was looking so worried.

"I think Tumbler is sick," she said, touching Tumbler forehead to her cheek (to check to see if he had a temperature). "Has he been acting strangely?"

"Now that you mention it, he did have a little trouble gettin' out of bed this morning…" Jack trailed off thinking.

"That settles it," she said putting her foot down. "You're going to stay with me."

"Whoa, hold it right there," Jack said, taking hold of his youngest newsie. "He'll stay at the lodging house with Kloppman; he'll be more comfortable there."

"I'm not sick guys, just tired that's all," Tumbler butted in.

"You're sick," Jack and Tessa said at the same time then went back to arguing.

Jack: "We know how to take care of our own."

Tessa: "He's staying here, what if he got the rest of you sick?"

Right about then Pie Eater foolishly threw in his two bits (not literally): "Why are Cowboy and Names fightin'?"

Tessa turned to Pie Eater with a raised eyebrow.

"What did you just call me?"

"Jack gave you a newsie name," Tumbler answered for Pie Eater.

"And why did he do that?" Tessa asked, addressing Tumbler but looking at Jack.

"'Cause you gave him one," Tumbler said matter-o'-factly.

"When?" she asked with a tilt of the head.

"You call him Greenhorn."

"Ha, that's not a newsie name, that's an insult."

"What does it mean?" Tumbler asked, wondering why someone would insult the Great Jack Kelly.

"It's kinda like a cross between a scabber and a newb (please forgive our modern terminology)."

"A scabber? A SCABBER! You are calling me, Jack "Leader of the newsie strike" Kelly a scabber!?!"

"Yep," Tessa said with a smirk. "And you know what else; Tumbler's staying here until he's better and that's all there is to it."

"Fine," Jack grumbled, knowing that he probably would be better off here. "But I need to check on him every morning and night to make sure he's okay."

"Deal," Tessa said, spit shaking with Jack.

After that Jack carried a protesting Tumbler upstairs to Tessa's room and Tessa went to check on her uncle and grab some medicine for the boy, leaving the rest of the newsies confused.

"You know," Mush said to Blink (both of whom just popped out of nowhere). "They are either going to kill each other or get married."

"One to five says they get together," Race said to the group before him, not getting any bets out of it.

"You gonna be okay kid?" Jack asked Tumbler as he got ready to leave the room above the restaurant.

"Yeah," Tumbler said, eating some soup Edna had sent up for him. "Tessa will take good care of me."

"I'm sure she will," with that Jack walked back to the main room of the apartment where Tessa was sorting some fresh linens.

"Why did you name me Names?" She asked when she noticed Jack walking towards her.

" Because you have four names, instead of just three like a normal person."

"Oh, you give nicknames to people for a little thing like that?"

"Sure, Snoddy got his name for wipin' his nose a lot."

"You are a strange one, Jack," she said shaking her head.

"See you in the morning, Tessa."

"See you then Jack."

* * *

That's all I'm doing for tonight, sorry it's so short but I'm sick and Katrinka is asleep so you'll just have to deal.

Bravo Yankee Echo, Katrinka and Nori.


	8. Chapter 8

(Nori): "Hi! Here we are, ready to bring you another (cough, cough) quality chapter to this epic tale! (Katrinka): "In other words, we're up late writing this so you better show your gratitude by reviewing (That rude comment excludes Awkward Quail and Eruanna Undomiel, we like you)! Quick note, we got a new profile picture of the two of us, you know just in case any of you want to know how two deranged sisters look. Or you want to stalk us…which would be kinda creepy but cool.

DISCLAIMER RENEWAL: We don't own Newsies, we're just borrowing them. This is not an English lesson don't flame us for bad grammar.

We also don't own "Dream Angus" (You'll know it when you see it)

ON WITH THE STORY!!!

* * *

Jack hurried down the street towards Tibby's; he almost forgot to check on Tumbler like he said he would. The restaurant was pretty crowded for a Monday morning and Tessa was being yelled for across the room by three different people at once. You could tell that this was not one of her best days and Jack knew that any sort of sarcastic banter would not help right now. So instead he just showed himself to the apartment above.

Tumbler was not lying on the couch like Jack thought he would be, he was lying on, what Jack presumed to be Tessa's bed.

"Hey bud," Jack said, smiling at poor little Tumbler (Come on, we all feel bad for the little guy). "How are they treatin' you in this joint?"

"Really good," he said, with a slightly sick smile. "But I still say that I'm not that sick."

"Well," said Tessa as she entered the room. "You may think that but you aren't going any where until I give the word."

"I know," Tumbler said in a defeated voice.

"I best be going," Jack said looking at the clock on the wall. "Papes to sell, you know?"

"See you this afternoon," Tessa said as he walked down the steps.

As Jack left the restaurant, he ran into a familiar face.

"Heya Doc," Jack said to Doctor Bosco. Dr. Bosco took care of most newsies when they were sick so he knew Jack quiet well.

"Hello, Jack" Dr. Bosco said, with a friendly smile. "What brings you here today?"

"Just checking on one of my newsies, who's staying here."

"Wh- Oh yes! Young Tumbler is under the weather."

"Who did you think I was talkin' about?" Jack asked, curiosity eating at him.

"I was coming to see to one Jacob O'Keefe," Dr. Bosco said, thoughtfully.

"Mhmm…" Jack trailed off thinking that maybe Old Man Tibby was more then a little under the weather.

* * *

Jack sold through the morning wondering if Tibby was going to be okay, wondering if Tumbler was going to be okay and wondering why Tessa wasn't falling apart right now. Most girls weren't…well to put it bluntly, most girls just weren't strong enough to deal with so much stress without breaking down or crying.

_But Tessa isn't like most girls, _he reminded himself. _She doesn't think she needs anyone._

**But what if she does need someone? **said the other side of his brain. **What if she needs **_**you**_**?**

_Holy Spot Conlon _(heehee, see what we did just there?) _where did __**that**__ thought come from?!_

Well it was there now and Jack didn't see it leaving any time soon so why not do something constructive?

Once Jack had sold his last pape he headed over to Tibby's surprised to see that they were closed.

_Not normal, not good!_

Jack ran to the back door (the front was locked) and thanked the heavens that it was open. Running up the steps he prayed silently for everything to be okay even though he knew it couldn't be.

"Tessa, Tumbler?!?" He called, quietly when he make it to the top.

"We're closed you know," Tessa said in a dull voice from her seat on the couch.

"Is everyone okay?" Jack asked, his concern still strong.

"Tumbler's fine, Jack." SHe said with a sigh. "Just a small cold."

"Then why are you closed?" Jack asked.

"My uncle is-well, he's worse off then I thought he was."

Jack understood immediately.

"How bad?"

"Dr. Bosco isn't sure if he'll live," Tessa answered, her voice so low it was practically a whisper.

_Hey, this is my chance,_ said that voice in his head.

"Do you, uh…wanna talk about it?" Jack asked unsurely.

That's when Tessa blew up (not literally).

"WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THESE THING!!! Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe I'm just fine on my own?! Or that maybe I didn't talk about these things for a reason?!"

"All right, all right," Jack said, holding up his hands in defense. "Just tryin' to help…"

Jack walked down the steps of the apartment with a sigh. _So much for that plan,_ he thought to himself, walking out the door to get the afternoon edition.

That afternoon, Tessa sat alone refusing to let any tears fall from her eyes. _I don't need to cry, uncle will be fine._

"Tessa," Tumbler's soft voice called to her through the darkening room. "Can I have something to drink?"

"Sure thing, Hon," she said, pouring water out of a pitcher into a cup.

"You feeling any better?" She asked, handing him the cup.

"I'm okay," he said with a sigh. "But I really want to get out of this room, can I sit on the couch with you for awhile?"

"Sure thing, kiddo," she said smiling.

With that the two spent the rest of the afternoon sitting together talking about anything and everything.

(Later in the evening)

Jack walked to the back of Tibby's once more that day sighing as he opened it. _They really should lock this thing,_ he thought to himself.

He walked up the steps quietly, in case someone was sleeping. When he was almost at the top he heard a soft voice singing with a sight Scottish accent (Yeah, we're that cliché).

_Can you hush your weepin',_

_A' the wee lamb are sleepin',_

Jack looked at Tessa who was swaying while holding Tumbler in her arms (she's a strong one, the kid must weigh at least sixty pounds).

_Birdies and Bairnies* are nestling the gither,_

_Dream Angus is hirplin' ower the heather,_

Tessa laid the little boy down on the couch, brushing his hair from his face, still singing.

_Dreams for sale, fine dreams for sale,_

_Angus has fine dreams for sale,_

She stood up and continued to sway rhythmically.

_Hush my wee Bairnie and sleep with out fear,_

_Dream Angus has brought you a dream my dear._

After she finished singing she bent over and kissed Tumbler on the forehead. Then turned around to see one some what surprised and very much impressed maybe even a little moved, Jack Kelly. Tessa, on the other hand, wasn't feeling so sentimental.

"He's fine, you can go home," she said, her voice slightly chokey but not enough to call it crying.

_She doesn't what my help,_ he thought.

**But she needs you, it doesn't matter what she wants.**

_Fine, but I'm not trying again after this!_

"Are you sure you don't want to talk?" Jack asked, but Tessa seemed far away.

"My father would sing that song to me when I was little. He was a wonderful singer, he taught me to dance too. He and my mother would dance to this song, we had a music box that played this tune," as Tessa said this Jack saw tears mount in her eyes. "When I left Ohio I had to sell it."

Finally Tessa couldn't hold it in any more, four years of pain and sadness couldn't be bottled up any longer. She cried, hard and long into Jack's shoulder. Jack patted Tessa's back as she cried, knowing that it was all he could do for her right then.

After about five minutes of crying, Tessa's sobs had reduced to a few sniffles and the occasional hiccup.

"You feelin' better?" Jack asked, still rubbing Tessa's back.

"A little, sorry for going all mushy on you," she said, cheeks turning red.

"Hey, Mush is one of my best friends," Jack said, trying to lighten the mood.

Then Tessa did a very un-Tessa-like, she wrapped her arms around Jack in a hug.

"Thank you, Jack, you're a good guy." She said into the crook of Jack's neck, then with a small smirk. "Even for a Greenhorn."

"Ahh, that's the Tessa I know," Jack said smiling back. "I'll see you in the morning, Tess."

"See you then, Jack."

Jack looked down at Tessa and thought about giving her a good-night-kiss.

_No_, he thought. _She thinks of you as a friend, don't ruin that. Another time._

Little did he know that Tessa was thinking the same thought.

* * *

*1 Bairnie is a baby.

TA-DA! (Nori): "We did good." (Katrinka): "we don't know that until they review (wink wink)" (N): "Okay I think they get it, now we're finished here I have to see a man about a Parsnip." (K): "It's a turnup." (N): "Oh, hush up" REVIEW!!!!!


	9. Chapter 9

Here we are! (Nori): "Ready to light some fires and kick some tires!" (Katrinka): "Yeah…hope you liked the last chapter. Sorry we have not updated in a long time New Year stuff, you know?" (N): "We made Igor pie!" (K): "She means blueberry pie." (N): "I think Igor Pie is a good name!" (K): "Whatever, now we'll stop our banter and get on with the story."

A/N: We use a men in black line in here, we don't own that either.

NEWSFLASH: Nori just got a question right on Jeopardy!

* * *

Tessa stood before a grave with the name "TIBBY O'KEEFE" chiseled neatly in to the stone.

"I know you must miss him," she said, to the stone or rather the person under it. "But I can't let your father die just yet. I've lost so many people in my life; I just can't lose him yet. I know I can't stop him from dieing, but if you could put in a good word to the big guy I'd be very grateful. Say hi to my folks for me, see ya cousin."

After placing a small bundle of flowers on the grave, Tessa went back to the restaurant just as the sun came up.

"Good morning, Tessa." Edna said, from the kitchen.

"Hey Ms. Edna," she said, in as cheerful a voice that she could muster.

Setting straight to work, Tessa set the tables for the first customers. Working until ten before noon when the newsies came in.

"Hey Tessa," Boots said, smiling.

"Hey Boots," she said, searching through the crowd. "Where's Jack?"

"Snipeshooter wasn't able to sell the last of his papes so Jack's helping him." Mush explained, walking behind Boots.

"Oh," Tessa said, thinking to herself, _"thank God, I thought he didn't want to talk to me after my out burst last night."_

"Well tell him that he can probably pick Tumbler up tonight," she told Mush.

"Will do."

With that said the newsies began to place their orders and ate their lunch in the peace.

Jack and Snipe had finished selling the last of Snipe's papes when they saw Blink and Mush heading their way.

"Heya, boys." Jack said with his usual smile, not letting his hunger get to him. "What's happenin'?"

"Not much," Blink answered, "Tessa says hi."

"And that you could came and get Tumbler tonight," added Mush.

"Okay," he said with a smile. "Skittery, Itey and me will come for him after we sell the last edition."

Jack with Snipeshooter sold together for the rest of the afternoon. A little after seven pm. Jack handed Snipeshooter over to Race and Blink and along with Itey and Skittery headed over to Tibby's.

When Jack and Co. (we've gotten tired of writing down their names) got to the restaurant Tumbler was sitting at the front booth with Tessa, who was buried up to her elbows in official looking papers.

"Skittery, Itey!" Tumbler cheered, jumping in to the arms of the two boys.

While the three caballeros (small joke) walked out happy and reunited Jack noticed the defeated look on Tessa's face as she stared down at the papers before her.

"What's up?" he asked, as he sat down across from her.

"The sky," she answered with a sigh.

"What are you working on?"

"Bills," sigh number two.

"How long have you been working on those?"

"'Bout five (pm.)."

"When was the last time you ate?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Lunch, I think."

Jack nodded, "You need pie."

Tessa looked at him as if he was crazy for a moment then sighed in defeat (she seems to be doing that a lot). "You're nuts."

Jack smiled, taking that as a yes, "Go get a jacket."

Tessa nodded and ran up the steps.

(Up stairs)

"Uncle," Tessa said, popping her head into the master bed room. "I'm going out with Jack for a little bit, I'll be back soon."

"Stay safe," he replied.

"Yes uncle."

(Same time down stairs)

Jack watched Tessa run up the steps.

"Hey Cowboy," Itey called from the doorway. "What's up? One minute you're with us, the next you're not."

"Yeah, I'm going to hang out with Tessa for a bit," Jack said, unsure how to word it.

Itey smiled mischievously, "Gotcha."

"Itey, don't you-" Jack began but Itey was already gone.

"What's wrong with Itey?" asked Tessa as she descended the steps.

"Nothin', nothing'," Jack answered. "Come on, let's go get that pie."

Tessa and Jack walked for a few moments in silents until Tessa decided to start talking.

"So where are we going?" she asked, putting her hands into her pant's pockets.

"A little bakery on Thornton St. (if it's a real street we don't own it)." Jack answered. "I know the owners and sometimes when they have leftover they give me food for me and the boys."

"Oh," Tessa said, nodding her head. "You do that a lot."

"Do what?" Jack asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Take care of your boys. It's one of your good qualities."

"As much as I want to argue that all of my qualities are good, Mrs. Shultz wouldn't like it and I want some pie."

"Should I assume that Mrs. Shultz is the one giving us pie?"

Jack smiled and nodded, "Yeah, one of the nicest old ladies you'll ever meet."

"You're not going to have her shove me in to a dress, are you?" She smiled, referring to the "Medda" incident.

"Ha," Jack laughed, shaking his head. "No, just pie."

"Good," Tessa said, smiling. "I don't think I could stand a dress tonight."

By this time they had reached a small bakery, which looked closed.

"In here," Jack said, moving towards the back alley. "Mrs. Shultz," he called to the door in the alley.

"Who is there?" asked an old women's voice, then she saw Jack. "Ah, young Jack, you need more food for your friends?"

"Um, actually Mrs. Shultz I was wondering if me and my friend could have some of your left over pie?"

"Of course," she said, guiding them to the main area of the bakery. "I didn't know you had a girlfriend."

"I-we- we're that is…" "No-not-we're…" Jack and Tessa tripped over each other trying to explain what they were, only to find they themselves didn't know what they were.

Mrs. Shultz walked back to the kitchen not giving them time to explain what they were.

"Uhh…" Jack said, looking at Tessa, who looked like a tomato. "Sorry, she's crazy."

"I thought you said she was "the nicest old lady I would ever meet."" Tessa said, slyly, before spooning some pie into her mouth.

"I said nice, not sane," Jack said, with equal slyness.

The rest of the evening went like this, no awkwardness excluding the couple of times Mrs. Shultz said that they were "such a handsome couple."

---

After an hour of talking Jack walked Tessa home and said goodnight.

"'Night Jack," she said through a yawn.

"Try to get some sleep, Tessa." He said, looking at her hard, as if it would make her sleep.

"Same to you," she said with a smile.

Tessa walked up to the apartment she was shocked to see her uncle on the couch, wide awake.

"Uncle, you should be in bed," she said, in a no-nonsense voice.

"I know, but I wanted to see how your date went."

"Wha- It wasn't a date!" She said.

"Did he pay?"

Tessa thought about it, technically he got the pie so in a sense, yeah he paid.

"Yeah," she answered.

"Good," he said, smiling. "That's the sign of a true gentleman."

"I'm going to bed." She said, rolling her eyes.

---

By the time Jack had gotten home the rumor of his "date" had spread fast and thick.

He was of course greeted by Racetrack.

"Ha ha," Race laughed at his best friend. "Way to go, Cowboy! Finally got a date with your Indian!"

"She's not mine and it wasn't a date," Jack said.

"But…" Race said, knowing his friend too well to fall for any of Jack's tricks.

"But, I wish she was mine and I wish it was a date." Jack said with a defeated sigh.

"Mhm," Race…Mhmed? "Well get ready, Itey's told all the boys that you and she are together."

"Oh, come on they know better than to trust Itey with a rumor." Jack Said as walked into the Lodging house, only to be greeted with hoots, laughs and several "way to go Cowboy"s.

"Arrrg," Jack groaned. "I'm going to bed!" He yelled.

* * *

YAY! One more chapter down! (Nori): "I need your help; do you think I should get a Mohawk? Send your answer in your review (and yes we're saying that to get more reviews). (Katrinka): That's right; she might get a Mohawk, that's not a haircut, that's a life choice.

Bravo Yankee Echo, Katrinka and Nori.


	10. Chapter 10

Heya, folks! We have returned and we are ready to go, onward!

* * *

Tessa stood at the back door of the restaurant, putting out the milk bottles for the next day, when she heard her uncle call down to her.

"Tessa," his now feeble voice called quietly. "May I have some soup?"

"Just let me lock up, uncle," she responded.

It had been a long day and she was tired, but she knew she couldn't let her uncle know that. He would feel awful and try to help her, getting himself even sicker. So she ran to the front entrance and locked it then walked up the stairs to the apartment, bowl of soup in hand.

"Here you go," she said, in a soothing voice. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," he answered.

"If you're going to be okay I'm going to go to bed."

"That's just fine," he said, his voice sounding more tired then before.

Tessa got changed and climbed into bed. It was about nine thirty and she was so tired she was ready to fall over.

One hour and fifteen minutes later.

_Clink! _

The sound echoed through the silent building. Tessa's eyes popped open. _"What was that?"_ she thought.

_Rattle…rattle_

"_It can't be anything; uncle's asleep, isn't he?"_

Tessa decided to go check what was making the noises, so she crept down the steps to see two large figures out side the back door, picking the lock. Tessa quickly assessed the situation.

"_Out numbered, out weighed, and they probably have weapons, so fighting is out of the question. Solution: get uncle Jacob, get out and get help." _

_CRASH! _

"_Wait, how do we get out of here?"_

Tessa looked down the stair way to see her two least favorite people: Oscar and Morris Delancey.

"_Bad day, really REALLY BAD DAY!"_

Tessa ran the rest of the way up the steps, not caring if she made noise, they already knew that she was here.

"Uncle," she said, shaking him. "Come on uncle, we've got to get you out of here."

"Why, what's wrong?" he asked tiredly.

"The Delancey brothers are down stairs and I don't think it's for the roast beef sandwiches."

"Tessa, you need to go get help, right now!"

"I can't leave you."

"You have to go; I'll never fit through the fire escape."

"What if they hurt you?!"

"I'll lock the door and brace it."

"Please uncle," she said, holding on to his hand. "Don't make me leave you."

"You have to go," he said, pushing her towards the window with a fire escape. "Get Jack he'll help."

Tessa looked at the window and then back to her uncle. "I'll be right back."

With that Tessa climbed out and ran to the lodging house.

------

Lodging house same time

"Come on Jack," Race said to his friend. "You've gotta ask her out and I mean a real date, not just an impromptu one.'

"As I said before, it was not a date, period."

"But you wanted it to be," Blink said, in a sing-songy voice.

"Who asked you any way?" Jack asked, with a light glare.

"Look Jack," Race said, in a getting-down-to-business voice. "I know you like her, they know you like her, Spot knows you like her, and for mercy's sake even you know you like her! The only one who doesn't know you like Tessa is Tessa. So you're going to tell her, whether you like it or not!"

Jack was about to responded when he heard a knock at the window. Looking towards it he saw one very freaked out Tessa.

"Tessa," Jack said, opening the window. "What's wrong?!"

"Restaurant-Uncle-Delancey brothers," she said, gasping for air (she ran all the way).

Jack was up in a second. Grabbing Tessa's wrist and passing her on to Bumlets.

"Watch her," he said strictly.

Bumlets passed her to Race, "I'm going to help Jack."

Race passed her to Snoddy saying the same thing. Tessa continued down the line of newsies until she was left with no one but Blink and the younger kids.

Blink turned around to pass her on to someone when he noticed that the others were gone.

"Where-but uh…Tumbler," Blink said pushing Tessa towards him. "Watch her."

-----

One fight scene later

What was left of Oscar and Morris could fill a thimble. We won't go into detail this is rated K+.

Jack watched as Tessa walked slowly back to the restaurant with Tumbler bouncing up and down next to her.

"Tessa," Jack said, giving her a hug. "You okay?"

"Where is my uncle?" she asked, not wasting anytime.

"He's a little roughed up," Jack answered.

Tessa ran into the kitchen and up the steps to find Dr. Bosco was already there.

----

Back with the newsies

"Boys," Jack said to the others. "Go home, I'll stay here for now, Blink make sure that everything in the lodging house is locked up, Skitts make sure the little ones get to bed."

A chorus of "will do"s went through the crowd. Jack walked up to the apartment and looked to the small morbid group.

Dr. Bosco looked at Jack and shook his head sadly.

Jack walked up and put his arm around Tessa's shoulder, as Dr. Bosco gave them update.

"All in all," the man said. "If he makes it through the night, he'll more then likely be fine. But he…he might not make it through the next twenty-four hours."

Jack looked from Dr. Bosco to Tessa. The look on Tessa's face almost broke his heart.

"What do I need to do?" Tessa asked trying to sound strong.

"Put a hot wet towel on his chest and a cold wet towel on his forehead. Change them as often as needed, you need to bring his temperature and keep him warm at he same time."

"I'll help her," Jack said.

"Good man," Dr. Bosco, with a sad smile. "I'll be back tomorrow."

And so began Tessa and Jack's long night.

* * *

Tada! Cliffie! We'll update as soon as possible!

Bravo Yankee Echo, Katrinka and Nori.


	11. Chapter 11

(Nori): "Hello, we are back by popular demand!" (Katrinka): "In other words you all wanted to know if Tibby was gonna die or not." (Nori): "Way to be morbid, 'Trinka." (Katrinka): "Me?! You're the one who wants to be a mortician!" (N): "No more bickering! On with the story!"

DISCLAIMER: (Yoda): "Own Newsies, they do not."

* * *

Jack rang out a towel and put it on Old Man Tibby's forehead. It was only eleven twenty, seven more hours until sunup. Seven long hours. Jack looked at Tessa who was sitting on the floor, looking absently at the floor.

"Hey," he said, sitting down next to her. "How you doin'."

She just shrugged her shoulders, not making eye contact.

"Tessa," he sighed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You've gotta talk, you might think that you don't need to but you've gotta."

Tessa looked up to Jack's eyes with her teary ones.

"You know," she said, in an unsteady voice. "You remind me a lot of father."

Jack's mouth opened slightly, he knew that this was the highest compliment she could pay him.

"He would make me want to talk about my problems," she continued. "He knew why I wanted to hide my feelings but he knew that I couldn't keep them bottled up forever. You have the same way of making me feel safe enough to talk and strong enough to speak my mind."

Jack looked at the tear fall down her face.

"He would have liked you," she said this looking over to him. "I…I like you," she said this very quietly.

Jack looked shocked for a moment then he leaned over and kissed Tessa on the forehead.

Tessa collapsed into Jack's arms, hugging him tightly.

"I don't want him to die," she said, into his shoulder.

"He won't," Jack said, confidently. "I know he won't."

(Three forty in the morning)

Jack was taking a nap while Tessa was on "Towel Duty" while he slept.

She removed one towel from his chest then took one out of a pot of boiling water.

"You're going to be fine uncle," she whispered, while she worked. "Jack and I are going to make sure."

She smiled when she thought of Jack.

"You were right about him," she told her uncle. "He is a true gentleman and it was a date, or at least I'm counting as one."

She looked at the still sleeping face of her uncle.

"I'm not going to let you die," she said in the most determined voice you've ever heard.

(Four fifty)

Jack was taking his shift while Tessa settled into a restless sleep. He looked at the clock on the wall, about two hours till sunrise. _"He's gotta make it, _he thought. _"Tessa needs him."_

Jack looked to Tessa's sleeping body toss and turn in her sleep. He walked over to her and brushed her long black hair back from her face.

"I will not let him die, Tessa," Jack said, gently. "I will protect him and you like you were my own family, cause you are my family."

(Six fifteen)

Tessa looked up from her makeshift bed on the floor to see Jack standing in front of her Uncle's bed with his hat off.

"_He's dead," _she thought fear gripping her heart. _"He's dead and I didn't get to say goodbye."_

Tessa stood up and walked over to the bed but when she got there she saw something amazing: Her uncle was smiling, as was Jack. Tessa placed a hand on Tibby's face that was now at a healthy temperature. Jack had put his arm around her shoulder and was holding on to her tightly.

"He's gonna be alright," Tessa said, with utter happiness pouring out of her every word.

"Yeah," Jack said smiling. "Hey, I know this is sort of a big moment for you but I was wondering, do you want go on a date with me. Not an impromptu one like before, a real one."

Tessa smiled, "Yeah, I'd like that."

* * *

Ha ha, you thought we were gonna kill Tibby. Just the epilogue left, see you soon.

_Bravo Yankee Echo, Katrinka and Nori._


	12. Chapter 12

(Nori): "We knew it had to end, but why so soon! *bursts into tears*" (Katrinka): "*hands Nori tissue* be strong, Nori. We'll write more stories, or our screen name isn't Katrinka and Nori!" (N): "*sniff sniff* Hey, why is your name first anyways?" (K): "*smirks* 'Cause I'm infinitely cooler." (N): "LIES!!!!" (K): "No more arguing, we've got an epilogue to write!"

* * *

Two splendiferous (we looked it up, it's a word) years later

Jack paced the floor of his new apartment. He was now working at the docks in Brooklyn, packing and unpacking boats and was moving up in the company. He replayed the conversation that he had with Spot and Race in his head.

___FLASH BACK___

_Jack sat at the table with his two friends at their favorite pub. Race and Spot _(they went by Patrick and Anthony, now) _were having a light conversation about the races or something like that when Jack put a small box on the table._

"_What's this, Jacky boy," Race asked, raising an eyebrow._

"_I know what it is," Spot said, smiling triumphantly. "I knew it, I knew it since the first time I saw her Save you from those crazy girls!_

"_You're gonna ask her to marry you!" Race said, catching on. _

_Jack just nodded a nervous smile on his face._

"_Don't worry," Race said, sensing his friend's nervousness. "She'll say yes."_

"_How do you know," Jack asked, looking at Race._

"_Please," Spot said, before Race could answer. "She's been in love with you for years."_

"_Yeah," Race agreed. "So, when are you gonna pop the question?"_

"_We've got a date on Friday, I was thinking of doing it then."_

"_Wh-Friday!" Race said his eyes big. "I won't have a lot of time to take bets, gotta go!"_

___END FLASH BACK___

Jack was now walking towards Tibby's, where he and Tessa agreed to meet. The evening went off without a hitch. They went to one of Medda's shows then had desert at the Shultz's bakery and ended sitting on a bench in the small park Jack would sell in as a newsie.

"Hey," Jack said, hoping that he didn't sound too nervous. "Could I ask you something?"

"Sure," Tessa said, in her usual calm voice (little did she suspect).

Jack went down on one knee and knowing it was now or never, pulled out the small ring box.

"Tessa," he began, Tessa's eyes were already getting wide. "Will you marry me?"

Tessa sat stock still for a moment, just long enough to make Jack nervous.

"Yes," Tessa said, quickly and happily. "Yes I will definitely marry you, Cowboy."

Jack hopped up, picking Tessa up with him and then spun her around. Jack suddenly stopped and looked at Tessa.

"Did you just call me Cowboy?" he asked, in amazement.

"Don't ruin the moment," she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"I love you," Jack said, to his fiancé.

"I love you, too," Tessa said, with a bright smile, knowing another chapter of her life was about to begin.

The End

* * *

That's it; we'd like to that all who reviewed especially Eruanna Undomiel and Awkward Quail who have been here the whole time. We want you all to know we'll be writing more really soon.

Lima Oscar Victor Echo and Bravo Yankee Echo, Katrinka and Nori.


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